Iraq MUST form stable government before bloodshed can end, Obama says

While
the United States sent military aid to Iraq over the past weekend in
the form of fighter jets pounding strategic points, President Barack
Obama is adamant that Iraq must address its very real problems. The
president insists that a stable government in Iraq will solve the
problem, something that the Iraqi people must engage in without outside
help.

Many write off the idea that Iraq can unite to repel the Islamic State as wishful thinking.

Highlights

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "I don't think we're going to solve this problem in weeks," Obama said this past weekend. "I think this is going to take some time."

The president reiterated that there was "not going to be an American military solution" to the problem. Baghdad, he insists, will not be able to effectively combat the Islamic State without a "legitimate Iraqi government."

Iraqi men board military trucks to join the Iraqi army at the main recruiting center in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, June. 14, 2014, after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle insurgents.

U.S. warplanes dropped a series of 500-pound, laser-guided bombs onto assets of the Islamic State in northern Iraq over the past several days. Questions have since been raised over the goals and consequences of renewed U.S. military action in Iraq.

Prior to the U.S. airstrikes on Friday, President Obama announced that he authorized the attacks to protect American personnel, such as diplomats and civilians in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan.

The scale of the air raids suggests a wider mission.

"Our military is so effective that we can keep a lid on problems wherever we are if we put enough personnel and resources into it. But it can only last if the people in these countries themselves are able to arrive at the kinds of political accommodations and compromise that any civilized society requires," Obama said.

In Iraq, the formation of a new government has been hampered by political deadlock in Iraq after an inconclusive election in April. This hampered efforts to deal with the Islamic State, an armed Sunni group that has inflicted damage in neighboring Syria.

A member of the Kurdish Peshmerga troops sits in a vehicle as they secure an area in the town of Sulaiman Pek in Salahuddin province, June 21, 2014.

The Islamic State, or IS, has seized large areas along the Iraq-Syria border over the past two months. The group's ultimate goal is establishing a caliphate worldwide. Fighters from the group have beheaded and even crucified their captives in an effort to wipe out those it considers apostates.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest says that the U.S. mission includes "supporting integrated Iraqi security forces and Kurdish security forces as they unite the country to repel the threat that is posed by the [Islamic State] advance."

Many write off the idea that Iraq can unite to repel the Islamic State as wishful thinking. Even if the Iraqi army and the peshmerga forces of the Kurdish regional government could fight a common enemy, they remain sharply at odds over Kurdish moves to secede from Iraq and over possession of such key prizes as the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Pope Francis Prayer Intentions for July 2015
Universal: That political responsibility may be lived at all levels as a high form of charity.
Evangelization: That, amid social inequalities, Latin American Christians may bear witness to love for the poor and contribute to a more fraternal society.

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